Method of varying an ornamental element of an earring



D. T. FERRO April 7, 1970 METHOD OF VARYING AN ORNAMENTAL ELEMENT OF AN EARRING Filed Dec. 11, 1967 FIG.5

I INVENIOR Dame/ T frro United States Patent US. CI. 6312 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An earring especially for a newly pierced ear lobe, having a cylindrically shaped member to be inserted in the rear of the lobe pierced. A stop element is secured to the rear end of the member to prevent it from being with drawn through the front side of the lobe. Means such as threaded portions or biasing or friction elements are provided for releasably securing an ornamental element to the front end of the member, whereby the ornamental element may be replaced without removing the cylindrical member from the hole formed in the lobe.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to an earring and a method of securing the earring to an ear lobe. More particularly, it relates to an earring for a pierced ear lobe and method of securing the earring to the pierced ear lobe.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART One form of earring for a pierced ear lobe comprises a cylindrically shaped member having one end fixedly secured to an ornamental element. The other end of the cylindrical member is inserted into the hole in the ear lobe from the front side of the lobe. The earring is then secured to the lobe by a clutch or frition element that engages a protruding portion of the cylindrical member at the rear side of the lobe. Since the protruding portion of the cylindrical member is not visible even with the aid of a mirror, it is quite difiicult to fasten the clutch or friction element to the protruding portion.

Further, the clutch or the friction member are relatively small and are therefore frequently dropped and often lost. A still further problem is that the protruding portion may extend through the clutch and become an irritant by coming in contact with the head.

Prior art earrings for pierced ears are particularly bothersome to a lady who has just had her ears pierced. She is instructed to not remove her earrings for a long period of time which may be in the order of three to four weeks. To comply with these instructions, she is forced to wear the same set of earrings irrespective of the style or fashion of her apparel.

US. Patent No. 292,810 discloses an earring having one end of a cylindrical member fixedly attached to the ornamental element. The other end of the member is threaded and is adapted to be inserted into a pierced ear lobe. The threaded end extends from the back of the lobe for engagement with a nut. This arrangement presents the same problems as described hereinabove.

US. Patent No. 459,476 discloses an earring having a pair of right-angularly shaped ear-wires that are secured to an ornamental element. At least one of the wires is pivotally mounted on the ornamental element. The earwires are inserted through a pierced ear lobe from the front side of the lobe and the pivotally mounted wire is spread to secure the earring to the lobe. However, this type of earring would be bothersome to a lady who has recently had her ears pierced because she should not remove the earrings for a substantial length of time.

3,504,507 Patented Apr. 7, 1970 US. Patent No. 263,755 discloses a threaded cylindrical member that is inserted from the front side of the earring to mate with an element that has an internally threaded bore. Ornamental members are suspended from the internally threaded element from behind the ear lobe. This combination raises the problems resulting in an inability to view any of the mating surfaces.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method of securing an earring including a detachable ornamental element to an ear lobe having a hole therethrough and of varying the ornamental element. The earring comprises elongated means for extending through the hole to provide an end protruding from the front of the lobe, and means connected to the end of the extending means opposite the protruding end for preventing the opposite end from passing through the lobe. The steps of the method comprise passing the extending means through the hole from the rear of the lobe until the protruding end protrudes from the front of the lobe, and releasably securing a first ornamental element to the protruding end. Subsequently, removing the first ornamental element from the protruding end, and releasably securing a second ornamental element to the protruding end, whereby ornamental elements are replaceable Without removing the extending means from the hole in the ear lobe.

Since the ornamental element is releasably secured at the front side of the ear lobe, a mirror may be used to view the mating of the ornamental element to the member. Further, the ornamental element is generally larger than the clutch or friction member discussed hereinabove under Description of the Prior Art. Therefore, the problem of dropping and possibly losing a part of the earring is reduced.

Still further, the earring of the present invention avoids protrusions at the rear of the lobe to thereby avoid irritating the head.

By releasably securing the ornamental element to the member, one who has just had her ears pierced may change the ornamental element and still comply with instructions to not remove the member from her ear lobe for a substantial length of time.

Therefore, the present invention solves all the problems discussed hereinabove with reference to the prior art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a view of an earring constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken along line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view of the ornamental element taken along line 33 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a view of another embodiment of the present invention with a sectional view of the ornamental element;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view of FIGURE 4 taken along line 55;

FIGURE 6 is a view of another embodiment of the present invention with a sectional view of the stop means and the member;

FIGURE 7 is a view of another embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 8 is a sectional view of the ornamental element of FIGURE 7 taken along line 88; and

FIGURE 9 is another view of the embodiment of FIG- URE 7 with the ornamental element and member releasably engaged.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS An illustrative embodiment of the present invention will now be described. With reference to FIGURES 1 and 2, a cylindrically shaped member or post 1 is fixedly secured at one end thereof to a stop means which may comprise a circular disc 2 to form an integral element. The other end of the post 1 is releasably secured to an ornamental element 3 of the earring. The ornamental element 3 may comprise a setting 4 having a pearl, precious stone, costume jewelry or the like 5 mounted therein. As shown in FIGURE 3, the end 7 of the post 1 is externally threaded. The setting 4 has an internally threaded cylindrical portion 6 which mates with the threaded post end 7 to thereby releasably secure the ornamental element 3 to the post 1.

The earring is worn by inserting the post 1 from rear of the ear lobe through a hole formed in the lobe so that the threaded end 7 of the post 1 protrudes from the outer side of the lobe. The ornamental element 3 is then secured to the post 1 by threading the cylindrical portion 6 about the threaded end 7 of the post 1.

The ornamental portion 3 may be replaced by pressing the stop 2 against the rear of the lobe, unscrewing the ornamental portion 3, and replacing it with another internally threaded ornament.

Another illustrative embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGURES 4 and 5. The post and stop of this embodiment is the same as the post 1 and stop 2 of the above-described embodiment. However, the threaded bore 9 of the ornamental element 3' is countersunk to provide flaring depression 8 about the bore 9. The flaring depression 8 provides a relatively wide aperature to ease the mating of the threaded end 7 of the post 1 and the threaded bore 9 of the orntmental element 3.

A further embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGURE 6. A cylindrically shaped post 10 is fixedly secured at one end thereof to a circular stop 11. The other end of the post 10 is internally threaded. An ornamental element 12 has an externally threaded stem 13 extending therefrom. The stem 13 is mated with the internally threaded end of the post 10 to releasably secure the ornamental element 12 to the post 10.

A still another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGURES 7, 8 and 9. A cylindrically shaped post 14 is fixedly secured at one end thereof to a circular stop 15. The other end 16 of the post 14 is bevelled and blunted, and an annular groove 17 is formed around the post 14 in close proximity to the bevellel end 16. An ornamental element 18 has a pair of substantially parallel leaf springs 19, 20 extending therefrom. Each of the springs 19, 20 has an element 21 mounted at the inner side of the outer end thereof. Channels 22 are formed longitudinally along the opposing inner surfaces of the elements. The length of the gap between the valleys of the channels 22 is less than the diameter of the post 14 at the annular groove 17.

Referring to FIGURE 9, the earring of this embodiment is worn by inserting the post 14 through the ear lobe so that the bevelled end 16 protrudes from the outer side of the lobe. The ornamental element 18 is then moved in the direction of the arrow until thebevelled end 16 of the post 14 passes through the channels 22 and the vertical inner surfaces of the elements 22 engage the annular groove 17. Since the gap between the valleys of the channels 22 is less than the diameter of the post 14 at the annular groove 17, the leaf springs 19, 20 exert opposing biasing forces to releasably secure the ornamental element 18 to the post 14.

Various changes and adaptations may be made to the above described specific embodiments by a person skilled in the art without departing from the intent of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of securing an earring including a detachable ornamental element to an ear lobe having a hole therethrough and of varying said ornamental element; wherein said earring comprises elongated means for extending through said hole to provide an end protruding from the front of said lobe, and means connected to the end of said extending means opposite said protruding end for preventing said opposite end from passing through said lobe; comprising the steps of:

(a) passing said extending means through said hole from the rear of said lobe until said protruding end protrudes from the front of said lobe,

(b) releasably securing a first ornamental element to said protruding end,

(0) removing said first ornamental element from said protruding end, and

(d) releasably securing a second ornamental element to said protruding end,

whereby subsequent to step (b) ornamental elements are replaceable without removing said extending means from said hole.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 161,853 4/1875 Baker 6312 X 269,383 12/1882 Caldwell 6312 X 292,810 2/1884 Hartmann 63-12 822,011 5/ 1906 ODonnel.

FOREIGN PATENTS 2,989 1879 Great Britain.

F. BARRY SHAY, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

